Carmelo Anthony, whose future with the Knicks may depend on the team's ability to add a big-name wingman, lines up next to Blake Griffin during Sunday's All-Star Game in New Orleans.NBAE via Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS — Last August, Knicks owner James Dolan flew to Puerto Rico to support and participate in Carmelo Anthony’s charity endeavors.

Dolan got so into it, he even participated in Anthony’s softball charity classic there, and played second base. Not only did Dolan attend, but so did assistant general manager Allan Houston and coach Mike Woodson. Anthony’s idol, Bernard King, was there, too.

All of that could pay off this summer. Dolan was in New Orleans all weekend getting ideas for when the Garden co-hosts All-Star Weekend next year, and is joining the team in Memphis in advance of Thursday’s trade deadline.

Anthony, in his most important remarks of the season, said Friday he is willing to take “a pay cut’’ and re-sign with the Knicks if he believes in Dolan’s future plan to reload. And it will take Anthony to be imaginative to believe Dolan has a surefire plan that will make the Knicks a title contender.

Anthony, who scored 30 points — including an All-Star Game record eight 3-pointers — in the East’s 163-155 triumph over the West Sunday night, appreciates the Knicks’ ownership and how much Dolan has done for him, so it is easy to believe when he pulled on his navy blue East jersey, it wouldn’t be for the last time.

After all, it’s not like the under-the-cap Lakers can guarantee Kobe Bryant’s health.

During his press conference Sunday, the injured Bryant trumped up the Lakers’ summer, saying, “I have all the confidence in the world they can get the job done. They have the flexibility and room to be able to do it … What we have coming up this offseason with cap space is right in the Lakers’ wheelhouse. They have normally made really sound and excellent decisions.’’

Bryant, who missed the All-Star Game due to his knee injury, certainly will recruit Anthony; their wives are close. Bryant was asked if his rep as a tough teammate will hurt recruiting.

“Not necessarily,” he said during a pregame press conference. “For people who don’t have the same kind of competitiveness or commitment to winning, I can become an absolute pain in the neck.’’

When listening to Anthony talk about playing in New York, you realize just how much he has enjoyed it prior to this season.

“There’s no better place in the world to play on a good night than at Madison Square Garden,’’ Anthony said. “It’s electrifying. The energy that goes into that building. When we’re on and the fans are on, you can’t even explain that feeling.”

“It’s something you have to experience. I wouldn’t dare tell anyone the good that happens at MSG. I’d prepare them more for the bad.’’

This season, a cacophony of boos have wafted through the air too many nights. The Knicks, 20-32 and 2 ½ games out of the East’s eighth playoff seed, open the post-break schedule Tuesday against the Grizzlies.

Anthony said he has had too many “sleepless nights’’ worrying about the club’s misfortunes. But again, the more he talked during his 30-minute unplugged session during All-Star availability, the more you got the sense how badly he wants it all to work out.

“At end of day, it’s my first priority to stay,’’ he said. “My priority is to figure it out together. My priority is not to not figure it out. I’ve never been a guy to come into a situation, when it’s not going well, to leave’’

The plan will sound good on paper, but so did Dolan’s original blueprint five years ago, when the Knicks made a lot of maneuvers to get well under the salary cap to sign … Amar’e Stoudemire.

Stoudemire, for sure, won’t be part of the new plan. His contract expires in the summer of 2015 — as does Tyson Chandler’s — and the cap space will be plentiful to sign a player to a max contract, even without Anthony taking a pay cut. Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rajon Rondo will be free agents then. So, ironically, will David Lee, who was not part of the original plan either.

Anthony has indicated he believes rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. is a future building block, and perhaps young big man Jeremy Tyler. Certainly Dolan will try to sell Anthony on the notion the club will acquire more draft picks by trading veterans.

Entering the season, Anthony also thought he and Iman Shumpert had a long future together, but Shumpert took a serious step back this season. Andrea Bargnani’s presence hasn’t helped the team’s chemistry, and point guard Raymond Felton has been injury-prone and erratic.

Neither appear part of the future plan, which is why Anthony will have to use his imagination before re-signing.